Sitting Bull College
7th Generation Academic Excellence Center
The Center was established in 2007 with a grant from the Lilly Foundation through the American Indian College Fund.
Mission
To develop the intellectual capital of those individuals who will lead the Lakota/Dakota people in generations to come, particularly in the areas of writing, reading and speaking.
Objectives
- To provide specialized academic and support programs to develop and enhance the communication skills of students entering Sitting Bull College and other students on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
- To develop the professional knowledge and skills of faculty and staff in Sitting Bull College, utilizing the Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) and Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL) models.
- To build a coalition of key stakeholders from head start through college, starting with the Standing Rock Education Consortium.
Activities
The 7th Generation Academic Excellence Center (AEC) is intended to be a Learning Center of Sitting Bull College which will develop and enhance the intellectual capacity of future leaders of Indian Rock Standing Reservation, especially in the areas of writing, reading and speaking.
The Center will provide training in communication skills to students, faculty and staff of Sitting Bull College and to high school and middle school students in Standing Rock Reservation. When fully developed the Academic Excellence Center will have the following components:
- Writing Center
- Reading Center
- Oral Communication Training
- Study Skills Training
- Tutorials
The AEC started operation of its writing center in 2008. It began providing other services in the following year. The Learning Center will provide services in implementing two programs for the college:
- Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) and
- Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL).
WAC makes writing part of the curriculum in most of the courses in the college to train students how to write even in non-writing courses. The Center will provide assistance to students in their writing assignments and to faculty in how to handle the student assignments.
SOTL is a program to develop and assist faculty research in teaching and learning that will help them become better teachers and add to the scholarship in the field of education. The Center will help the faculty develop their research expertise in this area.
Staff
The Center is run by a full time staff of two people and five part time tutors. The Center will bring in expertise as needed--part time consultants and trainers who will be hired from time to time as specific training needs are identified.
Location of the Center
The Center is located in the Student Services Building in Fort Yates.
For More Information Contact
| Gretchen Jentz, Coordinator Sitting Bull College 1341 92nd Street Fort Yates, ND 58538 Phone: (701) 854-8061 Fax: (701) 854-3403 |
